Beads
by North-Pau Pau's compass
Summary: When England finds out that Canada has been starving himself he gives a challenge. Whenever Mathew eats a meal he puts a bead onto a bracelet he wears to let Arthur know how he's doing. England's problem is how few beads there are by the time he has to leave.


Literally inspired by the word "beads". I don't even know why.

* * *

><p>After another world meeting England retired early to his hotel room. He just didn't feel like dealing with everyone right now. He decided to go out on his balcony to catch a breath of fresh air.<p>

And that was when he saw him. Illuminated in the moonlight with his shirt off and his face tilted up towards the sky. The person was standing on the balcony of a hotel room two doors down to his right. Whoever it was must have been too caught up in their thoughts to notice him. He also saw that the figure was emaciated. His ribs could be seen so clearly you'd think he hadn't ate in at all in the past month.

Then England actually thought about it. This hotel was only being rented out to nations right now; whoever that was, he knew them.

That was when it clicked for him, he did know this person, it was Mathew. Why did Canada look like that?

England checked off things in his head: alright, so he has the money to buy food, he has places to buy food available to him, there's nothing wrong with his country, and he's not sick.

He's purposefully starving himself.

But, he couldn`t ask him about it now though, that would just put him on edge and make him uncomfortable. He`d ask after the meeting ended tomorrow.

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><p>The next day Arthur almost forgot about what he'd seen the night before. But that day was one of those days where you can see the moon during the day time, and that jogged his memory. He had to keep it like a mantra, saying "Ask Mathew" in his head the rest of the meeting.<p>

It worked. By the end of the meeting he still knew who Mathew was, and what he wanted to ask him.

"Um, Canada, could I please talk to you for a second?" He asked.

Canada looked up from organizing his notes. He looked surprised that England was talking to him. "Yeah sure." He said. "What is it?"

"Are you sick, or something?"

"No, why?"

England ignored his question and asked his own. "Then, are you starving yourself?"

Mathew stiffened. "Perhaps we should talk about this in private." He said.

Arthur nodded, and they both moved out into the hallway.

"How did you figure it out?" Canada asked as they kept walking. If any of the other nations saw them they would assume they were stretching their legs after sitting down for so long.

England nodded approvingly at his choice of words. He wasn't trying to stall or pretend that England didn't know what he was talking about, or that he himself didn't know what England was talking about. He was going straight to the point. "I saw you on your balcony." He said.

"Of course you did." Canada muttered. "I thought you were at the bar with everyone else." He said immediately afterword.

"Saying I thought is another way of saying that you didn't think at all."

"I remember you saying that before."

"And I'll say it again, so long as you keep saying I thought all the time."

"The sunset was what made me come outside. I was getting dressed into my night clothes at the time; that's why my shirt was off." Canada said changing topics. "Then I simply stayed outside to watch the stars. I was trying to find Andromeda. I must have forgotten where it is, I couldn't find it."

"I never quite understood why that was your favorite constellation." England took a deep breath before continuing, "whatever you're doing to yourself is harming you, Mathew."

"No, it's not. I'm just doing my best to stay healthy."

"Food makes you healthy."

"It also makes you fat." Canada replied.

"You won't get fat, Mathew. You've always been skinny."

"And right now, what I'm doing is just making me skinnier."

"You can't honestly believe this is good for you."

Mathew stopped walking in step with Arthur, who figured out what happened and turned to face his former colony.

"Look," Mathew said. "I enjoyed talking to you and all, but I'm my own country now and that means I get to make my own decisions. And it's not like I'll ever die from what I'm doing. We're nations! So, just get off my back about this. It doesn't concern you."

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><p>Walking back to his room after his conversation with Mathew something caught England's eye. A little gift shop was in the lobby for those miscellaneous things you always seem to need, and always seem to forget when you've gone on a trip. It also sold small toys and crafts to play with. The one that had captured his attention was a small jewelry kit.<p>

'It's perfect.'

* * *

><p>England knocked on Mathew's hotel room door and waited until Mathew came to answer it.<p>

"Yes England, what do you want?"

"Manners Mathew."

"Fine. England, whatever is it that you desire that I could possibly help you with?"

"You're pushing it."

"No Arthur, you're pushing it. Now just tell me what you came to my room for so late at night when I'm already annoyed at you."

"I wanted to give you this." England said and handed Mathew a plastic bag.

Mathew quickly looked inside before looking at him incredulously. "A child's jewelry making kit? I'm not a little kid!"

"I didn't give that to you for you to use it for that purpose."

"What else could I possibly do with it?"

"Use it to count how many meals you've had." Mathew opened his mouth to interrupt but Arthur motioned for him to let him finish. "You don't want me to stick my nose into your business, but I still want to make sure you're alright. Tie one of those strings in there around your wrist and add a bead to the bracelet every time you eat something. If you do this I promise I won't bother you about it again."

Canada's eyes narrowed and he stared at England in silence for a while thinking about it. "Fine," he said eventually. "I'll do that. Now leave."

England nodded. "Thank you," he said. "Have a good night Mathew."

"You too."


End file.
